Japan holds new national sovereignty day

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe has presided over a ceremony marking a new national day he says he hopes will restore Japanese national pride.

The Emperor Akihito attended the ceremony in Tokyo for "Restoration of Sovereignty Day" marking the 1952 signing of a treaty with the United States and the Allies formally ending World War II and the Allied occupation.

Emperor Akihito's father, Hirohito, was Japan's wartime leader, and made a historic broadcast announcing the terms of surrender to the Japanese people in 1945.

The establishment of "Restoration of Sovereignty Day" may be regarded warily by neighbouring China and South Korea, who are suspicious of signs of rising nationalism in Japan and have long-standing territorial disputes with Tokyo.

"I wish to mark this day as a major milestone and make this a day on which we renew our hopes and our determination towards the future, reflecting on the path we have followed," Mr Abe said at a ceremony attended by about 400 people.

Referring to Japan's rapid post-war rise as a democratic, economic power, Mr Abe said: "I believe we have an obligation to make Japan strong and robust and make it a country that the people of the world are able to depend on."

Mr Abe said he wanted the national day to help younger Japanese "recognise" that the country regained independence following seven years of post-war occupation by US forces after its surrender.

The 1952 San Francisco Treaty officially declared an end to the war, required Japan to relinquish claims on other countries and territories, and determined war compensation.

Having been returned in January for a second stint as prime minister, Mr Abe initially focused on policies to revive the stagnant economy.

His popularity rating stands at around 70 per cent, largely on hopes for his "Abenomics" mix of big spending and hyper-easy monetary policies, but there are doubts about the level of popular support for his agenda outside of economics.

The prime minister has devoted greater attention in recent weeks to a more hawkish stance on security and Japanese history ahead of a July upper house election that his ruling bloc needs to win to cement its grip on power.

Mr Abe has defended visits in the past week by more than 160 politicians to the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan's war dead but offends neighbouring countries because it also honours Japanese war criminals.

Both South Korea and China, where memories of Japanese military occupation remain fresh, were angered by the visits.

Seoul summoned the Japanese ambassador and cancelled a visit to Tokyo by its foreign minister.

In Seoul, South Korean prime minister Chung Hong-won urged Japan to carefully study the state of relations and make efforts to restore good ties "with a correct historical perspective".

"Japan remains unrepentant of its past misdeeds," Yonhap news agency quoted Mr Chung as saying at a ceremony honouring Korean admiral Yi Sun-shin, who inflicted defeats on Japan in a 16th century war.

Japan has also been embroiled in a territorial dispute over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, with Mr Abe last week saying it would be "natural" to use force to repel any Chinese attempt to land on the islands.

Mr Abe has also refused to clarify whether his cabinet endorses a landmark apology for Japan's aggression before and during World War II, issued by a previous government in 1995.

Mr Abe has made clear that he wants to revise Article 9 of the constitution to set down Japan's right to maintain a military for self-defence.

He also wants to change the interpretation of the constitution that has prevented Japan from exercising its right to collective self-defence or aiding an ally under attack.

Sunday's ceremony upset residents of Japan's southern island of Okinawa, which remained under US control for another two decades, until 1972.

Okinawa is still a reluctant host to the bulk of up to 50,000 US military forces in Japan.

Residents of Okinawa held a counter-rally describing the commemoration as a day of "humiliation" for Okinawa and not a true return of sovereignty to Japan.